Bolashak bursaries will still be available to postgraduate students seeking a Master degree

18 july 2011, 12:02

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Kazakhstan will keep on sending its brightest postgraduate students to obtain Master degrees at foreign universities within the Bolashak Program, Sayasat Nurbek, Director of the Center for International Programs (Administrator of the Bolashak bursaries program), said in an interview for Kursiv newspaper.

“The media have been telling that we are wrapping down the Program for those seeking Master degrees. It’s not quite so. We have 77 professional directions to further finance within the Program”, Mr. Nurbek said.

“We have decided to stagedly stop sending postgraduate students abroad to obtain Master degrees in majors taught at Nazarbayev University in Astana. However, we will be sending more students seeking other majors demanded to implement the national development programs”, he said.

“The list of professions funded within the Bolashak Program used to include 200 majors. Now it is going to be cut down to 50-70 (…) Master degrees will continue to be financed”.

“Kazakhstan is capable to offer Bachelor and Master Degree programs locally. We have spent dozens of millions of US Dollars on foreign education, supporting foreign universities. Let us channel the funds to support domestic universities”, President Nazarbayev had said when speaking at the 1st sitting of the Board of Trustees at the Astana-based Nazarbayev University mid-June.

President also emphasized that scholarships [covering tuition fees to study at Nazarbayev University] for post-graduate students “should be primarily granted to students opting for engineering and medical majors, natural sciences”.

“The new concept of the Bolashak scholarship program should make sure we send to foreign universities only established specialists seeking a PhD Degree (…)”, the President said. He instructed Minister of Education to shift to the new scheme of scholarship allocation starting from next academic year.

The program "Bolashak" ("Bolashak" means "The Future" in Kazakh) was established by a Decree of the President Nursultan Nazarbayev in November of 1993.

The program seeks to provide an opportunity for the most talented students from Kazakhstan to gain higher education at the best universities overseas.

The bursaries depend on the host country and the university’s status and cover all education-related expenses.

Upon completion of their programs, scholarship recipients return to Kazakhstan to work in different Kazakh companies, governmental structures and international organisations for a period of five years.

From 1994 to 2010, 7611 students have successfully completed their studies at the most prestigious universities of the world in 33 countries under the Bolashak Scholarship Program.

Nazarbayev University – named after Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev – will teach only in English, and at the early stage all of its professors will be foreigners. The school is working closely to develop its programs of study with elite foreign universities.